Leaving the Nest

We have happy news. Two of our daughters are getting married. Iris has set the date for March 27. Molly and Mitch have not yet set a date, but they are looking at sometime in the first part of next year. For us it is a liberation, a light at the end of the tunnel. For the last several years, we have been consumed with helping our children. Now, they will finally be on their own and we will be free to think of other things. When the girls were in high school, I used to say that the only additional things I would help them get to launch them in life were three "c's"--a car, a computer, and a college education. After that, they were on their own. It was a foolish dream. Children today do not just leave the nest, they make the leap and return again, over and over, until they finally take flight. We are ready for that to happen. When they leave, it will not be completely over. We will be another year or two paying off the debts we have accumulated to help launch them. We also expect that we will still do a fair share of babysitting, and hopefully some advice giving. But it will leave us in a position where we can once again pursue new dreams and gain new vision. One thing that we have learned clearly now is that the only way a family can survive and prosper is through interconnecting. We we are not just individuals, we are part of a system that survives by helping each other. It is the symbiosis of parents and children, where one generation helps another, that makes a family a family. The Bible calls the church a body, where one part cannot exist without the others. The family is a body, too. We need the rest. A family divided is a body broken. Last weekend, we took the grandchildren to the movie Where the Wild Things Are. I honestly cannot recommend it. In the movie, a little boy moves in with a family of imaginary big, gentle monsters. The best part of his life with them is at night, when they sleep in a big pile. Surrounded by their bodies and soft fur, the boy finds protection from the night and the cold. Our families are our bi piles. We rest together in life and death, and in that find our courage.

Alpha and Omega

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw — that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." I’m going to let you in on a secret about preaching. It’s easy to do wrong and extremely hard to do right. I say this not to be arrogant or critical, but I speak of my own preaching, too, just as I do of other preachers. Most sermons fall far short of the mark God has set for preachers. Paul set a standard for Christian preaching in 1 Cor. 1:22-25 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. All good preaching leads to the cross. Anything which falls short of the cross may be a good talk, but it is not Christian. Any sermon which could be delivered by a Jewish Rabbi or Muslim imam is not Biblical Christian preaching. It needs to be about the cross of Jesus. I can’t tell you how hard it is to keep on that target, week after week. I greatly admire preachers, such as Billy Graham, who do. The truth is simple, yet it easily eludes us. Christ is all. What doesn’t focus on the person and work of Christ, and lead us back to the cross does not meet the standards of the Gospel. The same problem existed in apostolic times. There were challenges inside and out. The Jews persecuted the church because the Jewish Christians were not going keeping the Law. The Romans persecuted the Christians because they kept the law of love. Inside the church, many thought that Christianity as the “moral rearmament” of Israel. They could point to the teachings and parables of Jesus--the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Sermon on the Mount, and so on, and see parallels in what the great rabbis of Judaism said. Others thought of Christianity as being similar to the pagan “mystery religions”, ceremonial cleansing rituals that took away sins, but had no teachings of morality. The Lord’s Supper and Baptism cleaned us, but they did not change us. As long as we were baptized and kept coming to church, God didn’t care how we lived. John could see that they were missing something. What was it that the earlier gospel writers--Matthew, Mark, and Luke--had failed to show? John realized that Jesus’ message was not some kind of reformed Judaism, nor was it a kind of magical portion for personal happiness. It was not about us at all. It was about Him. It was not what Jesus said or did, but about who He was. So John wrote down what Jesus said about himself. “I am the bread of life,” “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way, the truth, and he Life.” Each statement was bolder then the one before. The problem with preaching today is that we are always telling people what they ought to do instead of telling them who Jesus is. John was born a fisherman, but he did not stay at sea. Early in his life, he became a disciple, following one teacher after another. He and his cousin Andrew became disciples of John the Baptist. John the Baptist sent them to follow Jesus. Along the way, John had been exposed to a lot of rabbinic teaching. He did not just learn what they said, but the language they used to say it. The rabbi’s had a professional language, just as every profession. One rabbis favorite phrases was, “Aleph and Tau.” Aleph was the first letter of the Jewish alphabet; Tau was the last. It’s like our phrase “from A to Z.” When they finished talking about a matter, they would say “That’s the aleph and tau of it.” John was not writing in Hebrew. He was writing in Greek. So instead of aleph and tau, he uses alpha and omega, the first letter of the Greek alphabet plus the last. It means all that is , was and will be. Jesus is the beginning and the end. From the first sentence of John 1 to the last sentence of revelation. Jesus is everything. Consider what that means. Jesus is not something we add to our lives. We are added to Jesus’ life. Jesus is not someone who came along. He was there all along. He does not enter us. We enter him. It world could not exist, cannot cease to exist without his involvement. Our lives are in his hands from birth to death. He is all and in all, and through Him all things live and move and have being. Without Him, there is nothing, nothing at all. Jesus began the world. From beginning to end, Jesus behind all that is. In Genesis 1 we read “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, and the earth was without from and void. . . and God said ‘let there be light.” John said “In the beginning was the word.” The word “let there be light” was an expression of God. It was Jesus. John understood that the word of God--his expression of divine nature was Jesus. Jesus was behind creation. Jesus will end the world. John also saw into the future in Revelation. His revelation began in Revelation 1 as an image of Jesus. In Revelation 19, Jesus appears as the Word of God on a white horse coming down from heaven with a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth, as he comes. Jesus will wrap all things up one day, and sit on the great white throne. Jesus is the power of God revealed throughout history. He is the designer of the Ark. He is the divine visitor to Abraham. He is the pillar of fire and the burning bush. He is the fourth man in Daniel’s fiery furnace. He is Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels. He parted the red sea, brought down Jericho, destroyed Sennachaerib’s army, preserved Jonah in the belly of the beast, and rebuilt Jerusalem. All the miracles of Bible times, and all the hope for miracles in the future, lie in Him. Jesus is the reason for all things. We were created to please God. But God knew that we would not please him. He knew that we would rebel. So God prepared a body for himself to be born at a specific time. This human expression of God is the word of God which appears in heaven. God had planned all along to come to earth and substitute Himself for us and receive the wrath deserving of sin upon Himself. This was the plan in his mind before the worlds were created or the universe ever began, long before the Big Bang or the formation of the suns and planets. Long after all this is destroyed, He will still be the center of all things. Jesus is the wisdom behind all things. Jesus is the north star, Polaris. We do not know what happens or will happen to us, but we know this, that no matter where we may be or what we may do, He gives us meaning. Often I have asked myself why things happen. Why did this person have do die young, while this person linger in a vegetative state? Why does fortune come to the undeserving while good people remain poor? I could never solve ther mysteries. But I don’t have to. I know where the north star is. I know who holds all the answers, and I trust Him to bring light to all. Jesus is God’s love made plain. Which of the disciples do you most identify with? Peter, John, Thomas? I think we are too kind to ourselves. He disciple who we most resemble is Judas. He was close, perhaps closest to Jesus, and he turned against him. Jesus sat at the last supper, and heard God’s words of forgiveness, yet walked way. But that doesn’t mean God walked away from him. Jesus washed Judas’ feet, demonstrating his servanthood even to Judas. God showed his love to us in Jesus even to those who would later reject Him. He reached out to them, even when he knew there was no hope of them accepting him. That’s the way God is. No one can fully escape God’s love. Even sinners are invited. It does not matter what you’ve done in life, or who you are. It doesn’t matter who your parents were, or what you do for a living.. Nothing matters at all except what you do with Jesus. Those who accept His free gift has eternal life. Those who do not face eternal death. He is the test of our love of God. At the end of time, when we stand before the judgment throne, we will be asked one single question” what did you do with Jesus?” It won’t matter how good we were, or how much we gave to the church, or whether or not we joined the church. Jesus will matter. He is the one person who matters more than us all. Jesus is the example we follow. Living a Christian life is not really that complicated. It is just following Jesus. Many have criticized those old bracelets that waid “What would Jesus do?” as being too simplistic. Surely we need to keep looking at what they mean, but they still express something deep and universal. What do we do? We do what Jesus did. We love as he loved, obey as he obeyed, trust as He trusted. He is our guide and reason for all things. So the question comes to us today—is he our “A to Z”, our alpha and omega? Or is he something we added along the way. If was include Him in all things, then all things make sense. If he is simply an addition, then nothing can make sense for long. He is the fulfillment of everything good and perfect and decent we will ever know. He is our all in all. May he never be any less than this to us.

I Am

In the beginning, God was just called “God”. Everyone knew who He was, because there were no other Gods. We all knew who “God” was—the all powerful, all present Being who made heaven and earth. But in the period of time between creation and Moses, things changed. People invented imaginary gods made in their own image. They worshipped gods that resembled things in the heaven above and the earth below. For example: The ancient Canaanites and Assyrians had a god who looked like a bull. The ancient Babylonians worshipped a lion god. The Greeks had gods who looked like people. The Egyptians had many gods in many forms—frogs, snakes, cats, and jackals. Some worshipped the sun, others worshipped the moon. The number of gods went into the thousands. This presented a problem for the ancient Israelites. What should they call the one true God to distinguish Him from the false? That was why Moses asked God, while standing beside the burning bush, “When they ask me ’who sent you’ what shall I say.” He couldn’t go back to Egypt and simply say “God sent me.” There were too many gods. So God took a name, so that everyone would recognize him as the only true God. The name he took in Hebrew was “Ye wah, he ye wah,”--“I am that I am.” He said “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent you.” Over the years, this word became simply spelled by consonants YHWH. Today, we pronounce it Yahweh, or Jehovah. It’s a name appropriate to no one else. Everything else exists because God wanted it to exist. Everything else has a purpose. God has no purpose. He has no reason. He is God, simply because He is. He is His own reason for existence. That is the simplest, most basic claim about God we can possibly make—He is. Flash forward fourteen hundred years. Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees. He is standing in the temple of the Jews, the sanctuary of YHWH God. These experts knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards. Many of them had memorized every word of it. They argued with Jesus over who He was. In the course of that argument Jesus said. “Abraham waited to see my day, and was glad.” They said. "You are not yet fifty years old, yet you claim to have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" Can their be any doubt that Jesus was claiming to be God? It is no wonder that they picked up rocks to stone him for blasphemy! At this attack, Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. Now isn’t this a curious thing? He reveals Himself in the temple and they want to stone him. Jesus is forced to slip quietly away. Meanwhile, the priests go on sacrificing and the Rabbis go on praying, oblivious to the fact that God just slipped out the door. The Pharisees to teach the people of the same God they just rejected. What irony! Here is a temple full of religious professionals, yet God showed up in their midst and they ran Him away. We have to wonder if this happened today, would we run Jesus away, too? We are two thousand years from Biblical times. God speaks to us now through His word, we say. We have taken His words and bundled them into thick black books, summarized them into catechisms and confessions, squeezed them like lemons and into creeds. We have mixed them with our words and made sermons. But the more we explain and summarize and systematize, the more we get away from their perfect simplicity. All that Jesus spoke and did was to show us that He was God, and what God is like. He is who He is. His presence is the essence of our faith. As long as things are going our way, we acknowledge His existence. But when things stop going our way, we stop believing. We act as if God exists, but only when we see Him. When good fortune happens, we thank God. When misfortune occurs we doubt His existence. God always exists. So why should we be so surprised when He shows up? Why should we not look for His hand in everything and everywhere? God exists all the time, but He does not choose to always reveal Himself. Most of the time, God conceals Himself in natural processes, so as not to overwhelm us through His presence. Just as God took human form in Jesus, concealing His divinity so He could reveal His love, God takes natural form in the course of the seasons, in the healing processes of the body, or in the laws of physical nature. God reveals Himself in nature through its balance and timing. Nature works too well to be pure coincidence. If the world were only a few thousand miles closer to the sun, or farther away, we would freeze or burn up. If the world were tilted a few degrees more, most of the world would be uninhabitable. If the atmosphere were thicker or thinner, if gravity were stronger or weaker, we would not exist. God has created just the right balance of forces to make life happen. This natural miracle is not an obvious one, but it is real. But ever so often, God reveals His hand through miracles. Those who think the age of miracles is over are foolish. The Pharisees made a similar assumption in their time and God proved them wrong. Those who think that God has to do miracles are equally foolish. We can’t make God appear like a genie in a lamp, by saying a few magic words. But God did one miracle that surpassed all the others. He appeared in human form. On that day in the temple I Am, announced His existence in human form. The greatest issue the church has faced over the ages was who Jesus was. This verse makes it clear that He was God. Not just the son of God, or an angel of God, but I Am. Jesus was God. God Himself died on the cross for us. He Himself paid the price for ou sins. God condescended to be a person. He went even lower, making Hmself of no reputation, and enduring crucifixion for us. He did this so that we would be free from sin. He gave His life in exchange for our sin. Can there be any greater act of love than this? Jesus is the greatest appearance of God of all. He made Himself known on earth in human form, to give us love and instruction. If we believe in Him, we have everlasting life. If we do not believe in Him, we have everlasting death. It does not matter if we are religious or irreligious. All that matters is that we recognize Him when we see Him. Now what does that have to do with us? First, it shows us just how much God loves us. God did not send an emissary to save us. He came Himself. He took upon Himself the burden of releasing us from our sins. Second, It shows us what God is like. We know what God would do by watching what Jesus would do. He was fair, honest, truthful, compassionate, and open. He gave us the sermon on the mount, the Lord’s prayer, and the parables as revelations of God’s eternal truth. Third, it show us that the world has a purpose and meaning. God came in the fullness of time. He planned that coming. He even planned His dying. If God planned his life on earth, surely he also planned our lives. Think about the situation you are in right now, whether you are suffering or satisfied. If God has blessed you, do you see the hand of God behind it? Do you get down on your knees ever day and thank Him for the blessings that have come your way. Or think of how you are suffering, those unique trials in your life. God has not ceased to be, nor has his ultimate goal changed. Ultimately, He reveals His hand in our suffering. It is up for us to see His presence, while it is concealed in negative circumstances.Jesus is God. He was not just th son of God, but God the son. God intends us to live in that knowledge all of our lives.

The True Vine

In John 15:1-4, there is a sentence that is doesn’t seem to belong. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Why in the middle of a paragraph explaining the vine and the branches, do we have verse 3--You are already clean by the word I have spoken to you? It doesn’t’ fit the context. Try reading the paragraph without this verse and you’ll see. Why is it there? One possibility is that it was a slip of the pen. Some copyist’s eyes wandered over to another page, causing him to inadvertently copies something that belonged somewhere else. This explanation does not satisfy. How could he make such a mistake? There’s no other place in John that is even remotely like this. Only one other passage uses the word “clean”--in John 13. Peter says “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus insists. Then Peter says “Then not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well. Jesus replies “He who is washed does not need to wash again. And you are clean.” It is similar. But it is not close enough to be the same statement. Another explanation is that the words are authentic, but that they have nothing to do wih the passage. Maybe Jesus was in the middle of one thought, and another thought occurred to him. Suddenly, halfway through the discussion of vines and branches, Jesus decided to tell them they were clean. I can’t believe Jesus would just through in a random phrase in the middle of a paragraph, nor would John throw something in that didn’t belong. It sticks out like a sore thumb. No, the only reason this is here is because Jesus wanted it to be here. It was no accident. It has something important to say about this concept of the vine and the branches. “You are clean because of the words I have spoken to you.“ He was not talking about physical cleanliness but ritual or moral cleanliness. It was a constant theme to the Jews of Jesus’ day. They not only believed that cleanliness was next to godliness as Wesley said, but that cleanliness was godliness. It was the root of all their ritual. Spiritual cleanliness was at the root of temple sacrifices. The lambs sacrificed in the temple had to be clean. Their sacrifice cleansed the people. It was at the root of their diet restrictions. There were “clean” and “unclean” animals. This goes all the way back to Noah and the ark. It was at the root of the Law. The reason they did not wear mixed fabrics or trim the corner of their beard was because this was “unclean.” It was not kosher. It was at the root of their elaborate bathing rituals. At Qumron in Israel was a monastery from Jesus’ time run by a group of Jews called the Essenes. In the ruins of Qumron are no less than seven ritual baths, with seven steps each. They bathed three or four time a day, not for the prevention of disease but for the washing away of sin. Faced with this obsession, it is amazing that Jesus did not have more to say about it. He ignored the extreme Sabbath rules. His disciples ate without washing their hands. He hung around with people who were considered unclean. Even in this one book the only two references to cleanliness are Jesus saying “You are clean. You are clean.” I have known people who are obsessed with cleanliness as a ritual. Some of them were obsessive-compulsive--obsessed in a way having nothing to do with morality or cleanliness. Others want to be just clean enough to pass. How dirty can they be, and still go to heaven? Can they drink? Can they smoke? What curse words can they use and still be acceptable to God? Can they run around on their spouses, and still be clean enough for God to accept them into their kingdom? If they ask forgiveness, will they be acceptable? Our language reflects this. If we pass a drug test, we are “clean.” If we pass a background check, then we are “clean.” Many Christians labor under the mistaken assumption that religion is about being clean. If we do not commit sins, then are clean, no matter what we think about doing. If we commit sins, and we atone for it or seek forgiveness, then we are clean again, and we pass the test. It’s all about the cleanliness test, you see. Jesus has good news for us. You are clean! If you hear the Word of God and believe His promises, you are clean. You don’t have to be obsessing about being right and wrong. But to Jesus, this is only the beginning. The real question is now if we are clean, but if we abide? Living things clean themselves. Dead bodies have to be cleaned. Maybe the reason we have such an obsession with cleanliness is because we are not living. Being a follower of Jesus is not just about being accepted. It is about in Christ. It isn’t just about the future. Believers’ lives begin and end in Him. He is the vine That doesn’t mean we can go out and do unclean things. On the contrary, when we do unclean things, a part of us is spiritually dead already. We are not producing the fruits of life, but of death. Living plants produce grapes, oranges, apples, and pears. Dead plants produce flies and maggots. If we are consistently breaking God’s laws, and we naturally produce the fruit of disobedience, then it is more likely that we are dead than alive. I am the vine Jesus says, and my Father is the Gardener. If we are dead, then the Father will cut us down. If we have dead spots in us, He will, like a tree surgeon, cut those places out. This hurts, but if we are alive in him, we will welcome it, just as we welcome the surgeon’s knife if it keeps us alive. We are already clean, but are we alive. Does our nurture and sustenance from Him? Those who deeply know the Lord do not talk about cleanliness, spiritual or otherwise. They are not obsessed with the lawful but the vital. The don’t just want to please God, but to know him. “There have been believers all through the ages who have understood this. Take the Protestant minister Andrew Murray, for example. “What sayest thou, o my soul? Shall I longer hesitate, or withhold consent? Or shall I not, instead of only thinking how hard and how difficult it is to live like a branch of the True Vine, because I thought of it as something I had to accomplish,— shall I not now begin to look upon it as the most blessed and joyful thing under heaven ? Shall I not believe that, now I once am in Him, He Himself will keep me and enable me to abide? On my part, abiding is nothing but the acceptance of my position, the consent to be kept there, the surrender of faith to the strong Vine still to hold the feeble branch. Yes, I will, I do abide in Thee, blessed Lord Jesus.” Or listen to the Twentieth Century mystic and monk, Thomas Merton. “For it is the love of God that warms me in the sun and the love of God that sends the cold rain. It is God’s love that feeds me in the bread I eat and also feed s me in hunger and fasting. It is the love of God that sends me the winter days when I am cold and sick, and the summer days when I labor and my clothes are full of sweat, but it is God who breathes on me n the light winds off the river and the breezes out of the wood. . . . It is God’s love who speaks to me in the birds and the streams, but also in the clamor of he city. . . If these seeds would take root in my liberty, and His will would grow in my freedom, I would become the love that He is, and my harvest would be glory and my own joy. And I would grow together into thousands and millions of other freedoms into the gold of one huge field, praising God loaded with increase, loaded with wheat. . . .I would not be fed. I would not be full, but my food is to do the will of Him who made me, and who made all things in order to give Himself to me through them.” Or listen to the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:19-21 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Do the words make sense to you? Or are you still wondering what they mean? Do you know what it means to have a hunger and thirst for God burning in you? Do you know what it mans to draw all life and strength from Him? As I write these words the sound of the drier is going in another room. I dislike that sound. I hope it ends soon, and I can get on with concentrating on my message. As necessary as it is, it is not something I want forever. That’s the way many people think about church. They come to get clean, but get out as fast as they can because all they want is to get clean. If they really knew the Lord, they would be thinking of excuse to stay in church, not leave it. When they left, they would want to be back. As an old song goes. “How tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. “Sweet prospects sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me “The midsummer sun shines but dim, the flowers strive in vain to be gay. “But when I am happy in Him, December’s as pleasant as May.” There is more to life than the end of it, just as there is more to marriage than a wedding. All of life is to be lived in Him, through him, for Him, by Him, and with Him. Like a branch to a vine, so are we to Him. This is more than just clean. That is real.